The emergency began when ground personnel and flight crew in Montreal manually calculated fuel using imperial rather than metric units to offset a broken gauge. This left the aircraft with just 10,100 kilograms of fuel, causing both engines to flame out over Red Lake, Ontario. Captain Robert Pearson used an unconventional forward-slip maneuver to shed altitude without wing flaps, successfully guiding the 132-tonne jet to Gimli with only minor injuries sustained during evacuation.
Key points
A simple unit conversion error compromised the entire fuel calculation and disabled a com…: A simple unit conversion error compromised the entire fuel calculation and disabled a commercial airliner mid-flight.
The crew successfully navigated an unpowered 17-minute glide using an emergency ram air t…: The crew successfully navigated an unpowered 17-minute glide using an emergency ram air turbine and gravity-dropped landing gear.
An official inquiry confirmed all 69 occupants survived the deadstick landing with only m…: An official inquiry confirmed all 69 occupants survived the deadstick landing with only minor injuries incurred during the evacuation.
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An Air Canada Boeing 767 carrying 61 passengers and eight crew members ran completely out of fuel at 41,000 feet over Manitoba after a mistake in converting metric measurements caused ground staff to put less than half the required fuel into the aircraft. The pilots managed to glide the 132-tonne plane for 17 minutes without engine power. They made an emergency landing on a former military runway that had been turned into a sports car race track. According to the official inquiry by the Aviation Safety Board of Canada, all 69 people on board survived the incident on 23 July 1983. Only minor injuries were reported during the evacuation.
Confusion over kilograms and pounds
The fueling mistake happened on the ground in Montreal before the flight departed for Edmonton via Ottawa. The aircraft's digital Fuel Quantity Indicator System (FQIS) was not working because of a faulty channel. Maintenance workers had already recorded the problem. Since the automatic fuel gauge showed no readings, the ground crew and pilots had to work out the fuel amount manually. They used a dripstick, a…
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